I went out this morning intending to do 7 miles, but right around the one mile mark something happened that has literally never happened to me before: my legs cramped up. I made it about a mile and a half before I had to stop and walk home. I’m pretty sure I can chalk this one up to a weekend of hedonism (I don’t even want to think about what my blood chemistry looks like) but it couldn’t have come at a worse time. At this point I can probably only get in one more long run and still take 3-4 days off before the race, and I really needed to up the distance by a few miles.
Name: 3 Mile-1
Date: Oct 5, 2009 12:20 pm
Distance: 3.17 miles
Elapsed Time: 34:22.0
Avg Speed: 5.5 mph
Max Speed: 10.9 mph
Avg Pace: 10′ 51″ per mile
Min Altitude: 662 ft
Max Altitude: 845 ftClick on this link to display the track in Google Maps. This link will be valid until Nov 4, 2009 8:57 AM PST.
Beyond the immediate implications, though, this has been a sobering experience overall. As bad as I am at running (and I’m very, very bad) it doesn’t really bother me. I don’t get cramps or shin splints or muscle pulls or joint pain. In fact, I hardly ever have any health problems at all. I don’t take any maintenance medications, don’t have any chronic diseases (that I know of), don’t even get a cold every year. Apparently the tradeoff for losing the genetic fitness lottery is freakish durability. Now that I’m closer to 30 than 20, my body may be dropping hints that it won’t always be that way.
Or maybe I just need to eat more bananas.
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